Blackhawks Sign Forward John Madden to One-Year Contract

The Chicago Blackhawks remained busy into Wednesday night by signing center John Madden to a one-year contract worth $2.75 million. In 76 games last season with the New Jersey Devils, Madden scored seven goals and 16 assists for 23 points. In 712 career games, all with the Devils, he has 140 goals and 157 assists for 297 points. He won two Stanley Cups with the Devils (200 & 2003) and the Selke Trophy (2001) as the best defensive forward in the league. This is s decent signing for the Blackhawks, as Madden is one of the top two-way forwards in the league. He gives the team plenty of offensive depth and skill on the penalty kill. The one thing that bothers me about the Blackhawks’ signings on July 1 is that they have tied up a lot of salary for next season on veteran players instead of their own emerging talent. They still have to re-sign Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker, Troy Brouwer, Colin Fraser, and Ben Eager and don’t have a lot of salary cap space to play with. To make things worse, it was revealed the other day that the Blackhawks supposedly did not make proper qualifying offers to their restricted free agents. If the NHL rules against them, those players could become unrestricted free agents, including Versteeg, Barker, Brouwer, Fraser, and Eager. If that happens, the Blackhawks could lose several of those players. Even if they don’t, I have a feeling a few years from now they’re going to wish they signed their young talent before they stocked up on veteran players. Don’t get me wrong, I think Hossa will be a good fit for them, I just think getting players like Barker and Versteeg under contract first should have been more important.